Pretesting
Pretesting is a great way to determine the strengths of each student.
My husband had a college course that used pretesting. He had to take a test within 24 hours of initiating the class. Then over the course he had quizzes and tests then the final. He stated that he was able to acheive a higher score on the final exam by knowing what he was suppose to learn via the pre-test. Also, if the pre-test allows the student to be familiar with the types of questions that may be asked on a test in class, i.e., multiple choice, short answer, essay etc.
composition courses often have a writing exercise at the beginning of class so as to determine the writing proficiency of the class in general. This is a broad based method however and is not really suited to individual assessments--unless there is a lot of time given to the instructor.
It can also help you to gage what to cover in the lesson. That way you aren't spending too much time and energy on lessons that the students know.
